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The gift of kindness

Many a time, we are faced with people who say bad things to us, who verbally abuse us, who criticise us, and call us names. Rather than engage at their level, it is better to offer kindness.

We should not accept these ‘gifts’ from others. Rather, we should give them the gift of love and kindness. Then their anger has nowhere to go. It remains with them. When we withdraw from the scene, they find themselves alone with their anger.

Soon, they realise what they have done. They see how kind we were to them despite their anger. When they find that we are following a spiritual path, they may even want to learn more about it so they, too, can learn how to be kind and loving in the face of anger.

As we go about our day and face people filled with anger and criticism toward us, we should look at the situation calmly. First, we should ask whether their words have any truth to them. If so, we can take it as a lesson to improve ourselves. Next, if their words do not have any truth to them, then we should return their gift of anger and, instead, offer only love and kindness. In this way, we can maintain our equanimity and peacefulness.

If they see how calm we are, they too may want to learn the secrets of humility we learnt.

We add calmness to an otherwise hostile environment. Our humility can play a role in transforming others and changing the world. In this manner, we can become a positive influence on the environment.